So one in four children are "disabled"

or at least sufficiently "different" to require funding from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, the NDIS? Getting funding from the NDIS now seems to be a badge of honour rather than something to hide. The "well s/he is on the autism spectrum" is all too often said with pride rather than concern.

Yes, I know someone will come back at me over that. Let me say here that severe autism is a very, very serious disability. The stress can cause families to marriages to break up, families to break apart and so many other issues that I too want to scream in frustration.  I have been into court with a boy who got into trouble because all the attention was being lavished on his severely autistic brother. Fortunately the magistrate realised it was a cry for recognition and not the beginning of a criminal career. The situation was dealt with in the way I hoped it would be dealt with and the boy has become a very worthwhile citizen who does a great deal to help others.  

But I do wonder at some of the people who tell me a family member is getting NDIS funding. Some of them at least seem to be getting funding for issues which were once simply dealt with at home, at school and in the community. 

Looking back at the "Opportunity Class" I cared for while a teacher was ill I know all those children would now be in "regular" classrooms.  Perhaps they would all be getting NDIS funding too - funding for extra tuition perhaps. I wonder how much benefit it would be for them or whether they might have achieved more in that classroom of just sixteen children. Sixteen was considered to be a very small number at the time. Regular classrooms had at least forty and often as many as forty-eight or fifty children in them. Somehow we managed to teach and they managed to learn.

I know of a child getting NDIS funding for a condition she will eventually learn to handle for herself. When she can her parents want the funding to cease. "She has to learn to be independent." At home she is required to do as much as she safely can for herself. 

I think this is the way NDIS funding should be viewed. Some children will always need it. Others will only need it for a short time and to a greater or lesser degree. Still others should not be getting funding at all. 

Some of the children who are receiving funding are children we once regarded as a "bit different" but we still accepted them. I once taught a boy who had permission to leave the room without seeking my permission. He would rush for the toilets and then return again almost as quickly. The other children simply accepted this state of affairs. If he had missed something important when he was out of the room I just told him. I asked him once if he was getting teased at all but he told me no and observation suggested he was popular enough.  It might have helped that he was very intelligent and willing to help his friends.

I wonder what would happen to him now. Would he be marked out as receiving NDIS funding and having someone monitor his every trip to the toilets?

There is the great niece of a friend of mine who is physically frail. She was a very premature baby and there have been some ongoing medical issues. She started school this year and has some NDIS funding because of eye sight issues but her parents are concerned that she is not getting the assistance she needs because a highly disruptive boy in the same room is getting attention. I have not met either child but her great aunt, a former special needs teacher, spent some time observing. She is of the view the boy needs to have much greater expectations placed on him. He is taking the time little K... should be getting to be able to see the work she wants to do. 

Almost everyone I know has a story to tell about this sort of thing. I suspect it is too easy for some people to get funding for their child and others who need it more are missing out. I do not believe NDIS funding should be available for mild behaviour issues which could be handled in other ways or learning issues which relate to those issues. I do wonder how many parents would back away from funding if their child was required to attend a special class or a special school in order to get it. I suspect there would be quite a few. 

I just wish the funding was going where it is really needed and there was less going to the "squeaky wheels".